A General Assembly ethics committee found that Sen. Ed Reilly broke with the standards of the body when he told a constituent he was planning to pull a bill on which they both had worked because she donated to his opponent's campaign.
A General Assembly ethics committee found that Sen. Ed Reilly broke with the standards of the body when he told a constituent he was planning to pull a bill on which they both had worked because she donated to his opponent's campaign.
Proposed Maryland legislation expands hate crime law Follow Us
Question of the Day
By KIMBERLY SEIF of Capital News Service - Associated Press - Tuesday, February 2, 2021
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Judges will be allowed to require people charged with hate crimes to complete anti-bias education programs if a bill to expand the current Maryland hate crime law is passed.
Sen. Shelly Hettleman, D-Baltimore, is sponsoring this bill, SB0220, which aims to use anti-bias education programs to reduce the number of repeat offenders.
“We just think it is a very important restorative approach to provide to judges and could have a very positive effect on preventing people from recidivating,” Hettleman said last month during a bill hearing.
Meredith Weisel, the senior associate regional director of the Maryland Branch of the Anti-Defamation League, who testified in support of the bill at both hearings, believes in the effectiveness of anti-bias education programs.
“Hate is a progresssive process,” Weisel said in an interview with Capital News Service. “It is a learned phenomenon that can be unlearned.”
In addition to the creation of anti-bias education programs, SB0220 and HB0128 will also add gender expression to the list of statutes that qualify as a hate crime.
Maryland’s current hate crime law includes gender identity and expression under the overarching category of sexual orientation and gender.